Recommended Resources: Mobile Development

Here are our top recommended resources for mobile designers and developers, which is put together by our editorial staff. We utilize numerous tools and services on Tuts+, as well as teach how to use them through regularly published educational material on this site.

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links. This simply means we'll earn a small commission if you purchase that particular tool or service. If you do, we thank you for supporting Tuts+.

Mobile Design

If you need to pitch, design or build amazing software, then grab this free, high-quality Photoshop template. It's a well organized, labeled and layered PSD of the latest version of iOS. Use it to concept ideas or to create custom interface elements that work well with those native to iOS. Learn more over at TeehanLax.com.

If you need to pitch, design or build amazing software, then grab this free, high-quality iPad Photoshop template. It's organized, labeled, and vector-based, completely layered PSD of the latest version of iOS. Use it to come up with ideas or to design unique iOS friendly interface elements. Learn more over at TeehanLax.com.

This Photoshop template makes it easy to mockup pixel-accurate Android app designs. It's organized, labeled, and, completely layered PSD. It was last updated July 2011, while no longer updated it's still a great free starting point to work from. Learn more over at TeehanLax.com.

Helpful for sharing or presenting interactive concepts without having to create polished mock-ups. It was last updated May 2010. While no longer updated, it's still a great free starting point to work from. Learn more over at TeehanLax.com.

Helpful for sharing or presenting interactive concepts without having to create polished mock-ups. It was last updated November 2010. While no longer updated, it's still a great free starting point to work from. Learn more over at TeehanLax.com.

This huge set of icons are for mobile app design. They are created for iOS toolbars and tab bars, they're also perfect for Android, websites, print, UI design and more. You can grab the free version or the paid pro version, which is Retina ready. Learn more over at Glyphish.com.

These vector based icons are made to aid in the design, development, implementation and promotion of multi-touch interfaces. Use Gesturecons inside of your applications to show users how to complete actions. Learn more over at Gesturecons.com.

The set includes 200 handcrafted icons in 14 colors, carefully designed to enhance your Android application or mobile interface. These well-crafted icons are offered with a Royalty-free license, meaning that after you have purchased the set, you may use all the icons in as many applications as you want to. Learn more over at AndroidIcons.com.

AppCooker streamlines App creation workflow to help you get ready for production in no time. It's an advanced mockup & prototyping tool on the iPad. With the AppCooker you can create an interactive mockup that is visually very close to the final application. Learn more over at the Mac App Store.

Use FluidUI to create interactive prototypes and wireframes of Android, iOS and Windows 8 apps. Use FluidUI to share your mobile app prototypes with your team, test on phone or tablet and more. It's quick to use and loaded with features. Learn more over at FluidUI.com.

Sketch is a professional vector graphics app with a beautiful interface and powerful tools. The vector tools and basic shapes are a fantastic starting point for any drawing, including icon design. Sketch has more advanced layer style options than you can dream of: multiple shadows, multiple fills, gradients, noise, blending, blur, and more. Learn more over at the Mac App Store.

PaintCode is a vector drawing app that generates Objective-C code in real time. While drawing in the canvas, you can watch the code change and grow. You can also choose between iOS and OS X code targets. PaintCode even supports C# / MonoTouch for iOS. Learn more over at the Mac App Store.

POP helps you make interactive prototype with ease. If you can draw, you can design apps. The workflow is simple: you design on paper, take pictures and then link and play. This is an efficient tool for quick app prototyping on iPhone. Learn more over at the Mac App Store.

IDE's and Editors

Xcode is Apple's powerful integrated development environment for creating great apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Xcode includes the Instruments analysis tool, iOS Simulator, and the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs. Learn more over at the Mac App Store.

Android Studio is a new Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA. Similar to Eclipse with the ADT Plugin, Android Studio provides integrated Android developer tools for development and debugging. Learn more over at Developer.Android.com.

Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose. It boasts a slick user interface and amazing performance. It's feature set is robust, with split editing, the ability to go to anything, and distraction free mode. Learn more over at Sublime Text. Learn more over at Sublimetext.com.

The Eclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP) project is an extension of the Eclipse platform with tools for developing Web and Java EE applications. It includes source and graphical editors for a variety of languages, wizards and built-in applications to simplify development, and tools and APIs to support deploying, running, and testing apps. Learn more over at Eclipse.org.

Hosting Providers

Put your app in front of your users at the right time, and in the right place to drive usage and brand engagement. Urban Airship is a precise, easy-to-use, scalable, secure and powerful push messaging platform Learn more over at UrbanAirship.com.

StackMob is a mobility platform you can use to accelerate your app development and eliminate the headache of maintaining your infrastructure. Your data is stored securely, so instead of worrying about setting up and managing servers, you can spend your time creating an amazing app. Learn more over at StackMob.com.

With Firebase you can build apps fast without managing servers using its scalable real-time backend. Build dynamic, data-driven websites without worrying about servers or server code. Learn more over at Firebase.com.

Deploy and Manage Linux Virtual Servers in the Linode Cloud. Get a server running in seconds with your choice of Linux distro, resources, and node location. Grab the servers you need on demand. Learn more over at Linode.com.

Testing and Deployment

Test Flight App is a free testing service for mobile developers, managers and testers. Need to distribute your beta, track your build, from distribution to sessions, checkpoints and crashes, and put the test results to good use. Get the data and feedback you need to iterate with more purpose and speed. Learn more over at TestFlightApp.com.

Pieceable Viewer makes your iOS apps work in the browser. Demo apps without the UDID hassle. Give sales demos to prospective customers. Embed full product demos on your site. Learn more over at Pieceable.com.

Countly is a leading, open source, real-time mobile analytics platform. It provides insights about user actions inside your mobile application and helps improve your product. Countly has a wide set of features, including real-time update, multi-platform support, scalable infrastructure and a non-prohibitive license. Learn more over at Count.ly.